La Notte del Destino
by Linda Rhaldeen
Summary: When the Baudelaire parents went to the opera to see La Forza del Destino, they never thought they'd get caught up in a murder plot. WARNING: Book 12 spoilers.


It was nearing intermission, and the audience was kept on the edge of it's seat by the spectacular performance of La Forza Del Destino. Laura and Bertand Baudelaire sat close, holding hands. As the curtain was lowered for intermission, Laura whispered to her husband, "I think we should go get something to munch on during the second half of the performance. What do you think?"

Bertand brushed his wife's brilliant red scarf from her eyes and nodded. "I was thinknig the same thing. Let's hurry so we can beat the crowd."

The two Baudelaires quickly made their way to the snack bar, reaching it before anyone else could. While Bertand asked the attendant for a small box of candy, Laura heard someone calling her name softly. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw Kit Snicket crouched in the shadows to the left of the snack bar. "Laura," Kit began, "I need you and your husband to deliver this box to the Count and Countess. It's very important that they get it as soon as possible, and that Esme does not know about it." Kit looked nervously into the crowd in the distance, then continued. "Esme knows I have something with me, but she won't be suspecting you." She pulled a little box out of her pocket and handed it to Laura. "Be careful with it."

"Why? What's inside?" Laura asked curiously.

"Poison darts," Kit said brusquely, then slipped away before Luara could ask any more questions. Laura stuck the box into a special compartment in her scarf and turned to her husband, who was paying for the candies.

"What was that, honey?" Bertand asked.

"It was Kit. She gave me a box of poison darts and told us to give them to the Count and Countess."

Bertand frowned. "Why do they want poison darts?"

"I don't know, She let before I could ask." Laura's thought were racing. The Count and Countess, although fairly old, were some of the best members of VFD. They had worked to stop the schism when it first occured, and had been been working hard ever since to keep the world quiet. Their son, Olaf, wasn't a very noble or trustworthy of a volunteer, but it was certainly no fault of his parents'. If they needed poison darts, there was obviously a good reason.

Bertrand seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Let's go deliver those darts," he said, and they walked back into the crowd. They found the Count and Countess fairly quickly. Olaf was with them, but when the Count saw the Baudelaires approaching, he told Olaf to go find their seats, and they'd be along in a minute.

After Olaf left, the Count got down to business. "Kit gave you the darts, didn't she?" The Baudelaires nodded. "You're probably wondering what we could possibly want with poison darts. Well, we've discovered two traitors within our midst. A man with no hair and a woman with no beard by the name of-"

"The less people know their names, the better," the Countess interrupted.

"Yes, I guess you're right, dear. Anyway, they've been leading members astray. That young woman, Esme, is about to join the OFD, and now they're working to get our dear son, Olaf." He appeared very distraught.

Laura did her best to show sympathy, although she knew Olaf wasn't nearly as good as his parents liked to think he was.

The Countess continued. "So we hatched a plan to get rid of them, with those Venomous Frog Darts the Snicket siblings were experimenting with. We're the only ones that can do it, because Olaf trusts his parents, while if someone else does it he'll take it as a personal insult. Now hurry and give them to us, before someone sees."

Laura took the box of darts out carefully. "I'm not quite sure where to hold it," she said nervously. "It's one of those boxes with Various Fake Doors, and I'm afraid the real door will open and they'll come sliding-"

"Mother, father!" Olaf called, rushing toward them. "The show is about to start, and Esme said-" he bumped into Laura, who dropped the box of darts. One dart fell to the floor, and the other went flying through the air and pricked the Countess in the chest. She gasped in horror, and then collapsed on the ground, dead.

"Eileen!" the Count yelled, rushing over to her. In his hurry to get to her, he stepped on the second dart, which pricked him. Since the poison entered his body through his foot instead of his chest, it took nearly a minute for him to die. He writhed on the ground, and Olaf went over to him, a look of shock on his face. In his death throes, the Count attempted to speak. "Olaf…the Baudelaires…it was an accident…not their fault…" and then he too was dead.

Olaf, who held his father's hand, let it go very slowly, then turned and looked up at the Baudelaires. His shiny eyes were filled with hate and loathing. "You will pay," he said quietly, his voice shaking, and then stood up and spoke, much louder this time. "You will pay! My parents were loyal to VFD, nobler than either of you could ever hope to be. And what was their thanks? Murder, murder at the hands of two upstart volunteers! But mark my words, you will pay! You will pay, and VFD will pay!" 

Laura tried to explain what had really happened. "Olaf, it's not what it looks like! It was an acci-"

"Shut up, Laura. I know you. I know that from the time you were a little girl, you've always secretly hated me. Don't try to tell me this wasn't on purpose!"

Bertrand put his hand on his wife's shoulder. "Come on, Laura. He's not going to see reason anytime soon. We might as well watch the second half of the performance." And so they left Olaf alone with his parents, and went back into the theater to see how La Forza Del Destino ended, with all the main characters dead after a terrible accident and an oath of vengeance. None of them spoke much, and Bertrand didn't question Laura when she went to buy a poster as a souvenir, when, after they arrived home, she told the children it was the most exciting performance she'd ever been to, and left it at that.

A month later, an important VFD meeting was broken into and demands were made by two members of OFD who wished to be known as O and E. Shortly afterward, the Baudelaire mansion was burned down, and the Baudelaire parents killed in the blaze. But although the events seemed puzzling, those who knew the truth of what had happened on that night of destiny weren't really surprised.


End file.
